Ritter Communications, a company with 112 years of history in Arkansas, ventured into Tennessee in 2012 with the acquisitions of Millington Telephone and Millington Cable. But the ties between the companies began much earlier, says Bob Mouser, vice president of business development.

Louis Ritter Jr., of Ritter Communications, and Babe Howard, of Millington Telephone, represented two of the 12 telephone companies that met in Memphis in 1963 to discuss dissatisfaction with the Federal Communication Commission’s toll settlements, which determined the way telephone companies were compensated for handling automated and operator-assisted calls.

The result of that meeting was the Memphis Plan, which was the foundation for a new national group — Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telephone Companies, known as OPASTCO. In 2013, OPASTCO merged with the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association to become NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association.

Now, Ritter Communications, based in Jonesboro, Arkansas, is an active member of Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and the Tennessee Telecommunications Association.

At Ritter Communications, it’s almost like having four companies in one, Mouser says.
“Internally, we refer to service in our traditional ILEC and HFC cable areas as ‘hometown services,’ and we’re like everyone else, pushing out faster and faster broadband speeds to these communities,” Mouser says.

The push involves a variety of strategies, including fiber-to-the-home to new residential developments, fiber-to-the-premises to business and school locations, additional fiber-fed DSLAMs and node splitting.

Ritter has the infrastructure in place to provide 10 Gbps service at the Memphis Regional Megasite, a 4,100-acre industrial site in Stanton, Tennessee, on Interstate 40. It represents a significant economic and community development in West Tennessee. The gig service is a valued industrial recruitment tool for the site, Mouser says.

Mouser says about 80 percent of the homes passed by Ritter’s networks in West Tennessee are capable of receiving internet download speeds greater than 100 Mbps.

“It’s been amazing to watch the capacity requirements of the internet backbone grow over these last few years, and in West Tennessee that is now over 20 Gbps,” he says.

For backup and redundancy, the systems in both Tennessee and Arkansas are meshed.

Components such as switching, networking and video content are connected through diverse fiber paths, Mouser says.

With a recent conversion, all operations in Arkansas and Tennessee are now on the same platform for operations support systems, he says.

The results are greater efficiencies and higher customer satisfaction.

Ritter also has an ‘enterprise services,’ which is fiber expansion across Arkansas that enables business services to selected cities.

In addition, the company provides fiber-based services to other carriers, resellers and statewide networks, as well as education and health care networks.

Ritter offers local channels with content for school and community events. Tubetownonline is one of the most popular features for customers.

In Tennessee, Ritter supports festivals and celebrations in all the communities they serve.

Ritter recently partnered with Tipton County Schools to provide a $24,300 grant from the Ernest and Anna Ritter Family Endowment fund to purchase 45 computers that students are using to fill out Federal Application for Free Student Aid and Tennessee Promise tuition assistance program applications that are only available online.

“We are involved in the schools and love giving back to the community,” Pearce says.

As the Reprioritizing Unserved Rural Areas and Locations for Broadband Act of 2018 winds its way through Congress, TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles supports the bill’s goal of limiting duplication of investment in the development of rural broadband networks.

“Mine and the TTA’s position is to not allow any federal or state money to be invested anywhere that there is already a network in place,” Knowles said. “Because, in most cases, our members are the ones that built the original network to begin with.”

One goal is to make more efficient use of taxpayer and ratepayer resources.

Knowles’ comments echoed those of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association’s CEO Shirley Bloomfield, who said, “By introducing the RURAL Broadband Act, which ensures federal programs avoid duplication of support for broadband services in areas where other federal programs are already providing support to another provider, Rep. Kevin Cramer is showing that the federal government is not only serious about deploying broadband to all of rural America, but also that federal agencies are using resources effectively to enable and sustain broadband access.”

Access to broadband internet is one of the biggest challenges facing the telecommunications industry, both in Tennessee and across the nation.

That’s why it’s important to know where each candidate stands on broadband deployment.

While the Tennessee Telecommunications Association doesn’t endorse candidates, it urges all members to learn each candidate’s policy positions before committing to a candidate.

“It’s important to vote for someone who relates to our ideals,” says Levoy Knowles, executive director of the TTA.“The TTA is the winner if we elect candidates who understand the importance of broadband and what it means to our future.”

Key dates:

Aug. 2: Federal and state primary election and county general election

Details about applying for new broadband grants and insight into the U.S Department of Agriculture’s efforts to support the telecommunications industry were among the highlights of the annual Tennessee Telecommunications Association annual conference.

“Our members were presented with information on several topics important to our industry,” says Levoy Knowles, executive director of the association. “I appreciate the participation of our guest speakers, our members’ attendance and the support of our sponsors. This was one of our best annual meetings to date.”

Almost 200 people representing the telecommunications industry attended the event, which was held in Franklin.

About 45 vendors also provided members with information about the latest technology and equipment for delivering telecom services to homes and businesses.

During the opening session, Jim Tracy shared about his agency’s work toward “Narrowing the Digital Divide.” A former Tennessee state senator, Tracy was appointed last fall as state director of the USDA Rural Development office. He told conference attendees several grants are available through the USDA that, along with support from the state legislature, are helping deliver broadband to Tennessee’s rural residents.

From the state level, attendees heard reports from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Commissioner Bob Rolfe, along with Assistant Commissioner, Rural Development Amy New, reported on efforts such as the state’s Broadband Ready Communities program, as well as support for site development, asset-based planning and downtown development and revitalization.

One of the more popular sessions discussed the timeline and application process for round two of Tennessee’s Broadband Accessibility Grant. Broadband Grant and Program Manager Crystal Ivey, along with Special Projects Director Amanda Martin, discussed how to apply, the key dates in this year’s program and changes in the application process since the first round.

While conference sessions included information about broad trends, they also focused on best practices for day-to-day tasks and challenges in the industry, including losing an employee, sexual harassment in the workplace and the impact of social media in customer service and marketing.

Four industry professionals representing telcos from across have been named the 2018 Tennessee Telecommunications Association officers.

“TTA members are working to make high-speed broadband and fiber available to every part of the state,” TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles said. “This group of officers, led by Mark Patterson, will provide great leadership as they and their fellow TTA members continue to make progress in getting rural Tennessee connected.”

Patterson is president/CEO of Highland Telephone Cooperative and Highland Communications, and will serve as TTA’s board president.

He is joined by Lisa Cope, vice president and CEO of Ben Lomand Connect and Ben Lomand Communications, who will serve as vice president of the board.

CEO of Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Charlie Boring will be the board’s secretary.

DTC Communications CEO Chris Townson will serve as board treasurer.

The board officers were elected in June at the association’s annual meeting, held in Franklin.

The board members will provide leadership for TTA, which represents 21 companies and cooperatives that provide broadband service to rural areas across the state. Collectively, they provide gig-speed fiber internet to more than 136,000 customers in rural Tennessee communities.